centralsouthworld-blog

[centralsouthworld-blog]

#01.01

I bought a small notebook at Target today. I’m going to be using it to track my daily exercises/workouts and food/nutrition. 

Currently looking up ways to break the pages down and make it productive and effective for me. I want to be immersed in my journey. When I am the most focused, I am the most motivated, actionable, and accountable.

One of my good friends recently started tracking her food in a similar fashion. I also saw a guy at the local gym noting his weightlifting reps in a journal. Was inspired by them to do a combo of the same.

[centralsouthworld-blog]

Beginnings

I’ve started this tumblr for my fitness journey. It’s more so to keep me thinking about fitness and motivating myself. It keeps the topic current and relevant in my mind.

This blog has been started rather late in my fitness journey. But from all of the experiences I’ve had throughout this journey, I’ve learned that you can never truly arrive. Even when one reaches her goal weight, there is always something to do. It’s a lifestyle to achieve and maintain that goal.

I’ve always been a very sporty and athletic person, regardless of weight. Recess and PE were my favorites throughout elementary school. Kickball was one of my favorite activities. In middle school, I did track & field. My PE teacher in middle school always joked and told me to run faster so that I could try out for high school quarterback (I have quite an arm on me).

Throughout high school, I again enjoyed PE and was always chosen first on the teams. I tried out for school’s tennis team junior year and made varsity doubles. Coach asked me to try out for varsity singles but I wanted to let the seniors keep their positions for their last year. One time my coach asked me how long I had been playing tennis in my life, and I told him junior year was my first time playing. I’ve always had a knack for sports and athletics. I guess, that’s sort of my one regret in life. I never practiced any sport ( a preference for tennis in hindsight) so that I could have become a professional athlete. I wish I had. But I come from an immigrant Asian background and that means education is the number one priority. We aren’t pushed towards professional athletics. With that being said, my parents never discouraged me either. Now - it really is what it is. I’m not complaining.

I did participate in any college athletics. College is sort of where I stopped participating in sports activities and possibly where I started to gain weight. Early after college, I gained most of my weight.

In 2013, I officially started my fitness journey. I didn’t start working out with an intention to lose weight. I just sort of started to see where I’d end up. I didn’t understand weight loss because I never had an issue before and never had to lose weight prior to this point. During mid 2013 to mid 2016, I lost somewhere close to 50 lbs. Although, I’ll never really know how much because I didn’t pay attention to my starting weight until I had lost a few pounds already.

In 2016, I lost one of my best friends. Not to death. But another sort of tragedy. She abruptly decided to no longer be a part of my life. I lost it. Long story short, until February of 2018, I subconsciously and without realizing gained 28 of those pounds back. In February of 2018, I joined the gym and decided enough was enough. While I had been gaining weight, in that time I also allowed myself to feel it all and heal. That’s really another story and not for this platform.

Today, March 22, 2019, I am 2 lbs. away from losing all of those 28 lbs back. In totality, with the ups and downs included, I’ve worked with the will of God to lose 73 lbs. And I’m not done yet.

In November 2018, I started practicing kickboxing/muay thai and this is the most recent leg of my fitness journey. 

Through a Groupon, I purchased an 30-day unlimited pass to a Kickboxing/Muay Thai/Sanshou gym. So I did that for 30 days in November. I enjoyed it so much that I upgraded to a 3-month membership starting January 2019. My membership is about to end beginning of April but my plan is to up it again for another 3-month. Coach thinks I have a lot of potential and tells me that I have “it”. He wants me to practice to get into Level II and eventually fight for his team. I probably will not become and amateur fighter (I don’t really see myself as that) but I do want to better myself. I haven’t fallen in love with a sport like this since tennis. And I’ve played a lot of varying sports in my life.

Anyways, the goal that I’ve always had in my mind has been the weight I was in high school after senior year tennis. I am currently 20 lbs. away from that goal. I want to reach that goal this year and “be done” with it. I am on track to graduate this summer from graduate school with my MBA. I want the culmination of my weight loss journey to coincide with my graduation. Preferably sooner but that’s the time-frame I have in mind.

It’s been a long time coming. But every time I hit a plateau, I had to train harder and stronger. Along the way, I’ve learned my capacities and resilience. It’s been physical, rough, mental, and emotional. But I am so much stronger because of ALL of it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So as of 3/22/19, with at least 20 lbs. and a lot of strength to go, I start this tumblr to keep myself in line.